Comments from readers,
culled from favorable reviews.

Fit to Curve is a skillfully written mystery with complex characters and such a fascinating plot that I’m way behind on my chores.

This series is a favorite with interesting plots and wonderfully drawn characters. Wish the author would write more of them. The type of book you don’t want to end.

A bed-and-breakfast mystery. Super characters, well developed. You’re waiting for the other shoe to drop. A mouth-watering, good read. Love the old lady with the sharp wit. I’d like the recipes, too. The plot builds very slowly. But once I got into it, I was hooked. I liked the characters, and you get a lot of insight into them.

This is too fine a novel to be mired in the mystery/suspense ghetto. It’s a good mystery, with a complex plot, all the mystery trappings, but the characters are rounded and attractive. The theme seems to me to be a consideration of morality – not just sexual morality (or immorality), though there’s some of that too, for those who like to read such descriptions, but all kinds of morality: for how high a price might you sell your soul?

I think the characters, subtleties, and philosophy make it much more than “just a mystery” or “just a novel”, though the mystery is fine for people who only want that, and the characters and their individual voices or patterns of thought are most thoroughly entwined with with the mysteries, necessary to the story.

Heart Attack is a great read!

This couple are a great addition to the mystery genre. Sharp and interesting with a bit of humor and spice.

Snappy dialog. Geoff and Ellen are a great team. He has a definite intuitive method of assessing info and arriving at conclusions that baffle and irk his cohorts. Ellen is more conventional and together are a great team. Unusual mystery not easily solved.

Comments from readers,
culled from favorable reviews on Amazon.

Fit to Curve is a skillfully written mystery with complex characters and such a fascinating plot that I’m way behind on my chores.

This series is a favorite with interesting plots and wonderfully drawn characters. Wish the author would write more of them. The type of book you don’t want to end.

A bed-and-breakfast mystery. Super characters, well developed. You’re waiting for the other shoe to drop. A mouth-watering, good read. Love the old lady with the sharp wit. I’d like the recipes, too. The plot builds very slowly. But once I got into it, I was hooked. I liked the characters, and you get a lot of insight into them.

This is too fine a novel to be mired in the mystery/suspense ghetto. It’s a good mystery, with a complex plot, all the mystery trappings, but the characters are rounded and attractive. The theme seems to me to be a consideration of morality – not just sexual morality (or immorality), though there’s some of that too, for those who like to read such descriptions, but all kinds of morality: for how high a price might you sell your soul?

I think the characters, subtleties, and philosophy make it much more than “just a mystery” or “just a novel”, though the mystery is fine for people who only want that, and the characters and their individual voices or patterns of thought are most thoroughly entwined with with the mysteries, necessary to the story.

Heart Attack is a great read!

This couple are a great addition to the mystery genre. Sharp and interesting with a bit of humor and spice.

Snappy dialog. Geoff and Ellen are a great team. He has a definite intuitive method of assessing info and arriving at conclusions that baffle and irk his cohorts. Ellen is more conventional and together are a great team. Unusual mystery not easily solved.

Just two days left. Of course you can purchase the books any time, but the world-wide free-for-all price special ends Monday midnight,10 July 2017, 12:00 pm AST (amazon standard time),
a potential savings of hundreds of pennies. Why resist?

With all the rain,

mushrooms large and not very large

rise from the roots below,

pink and yellow,

white

and red,

and shy,

while well above the ground the butterfly bush flowers
are at full bloom
but it’s a year of hardly any butterflies.

And fallen to the ground, here and there,
reminders that the green season
is not forever

Give either or both of these titles a try; let me know what you think.
Comment here, or email me at mystery@budcrawford.com.

A few clips from readers,
carefully culled from
favorable reviews on Amazon.

Fit to Curve is a skillfully written mystery with complex characters and such a fascinating plot that I’m way behind on my chores.

This series is a favorite with interesting plots and wonderfully drawn characters. Wish the author would write more of them. The type of book you don’t want to end.

A bed-and-breakfast mystery. Super characters, well developed. You’re waiting for the other shoe to drop. A mouth-watering, good read. Love the old lady with the sharp wit. I’d like the recipes, too. The plot builds very slowly. But once I got into it, I was hooked. I liked the characters, and you get a lot of insight into them.

This is too fine a novel to be mired in the mystery/suspense ghetto. It’s a good mystery, with a complex plot, all the mystery trappings, but the characters are rounded and attractive. The theme seems to me to be a consideration of morality – not just sexual morality (or immorality), though there’s some of that too, for those who like to read such descriptions, but all kinds of morality: for how high a price might you sell your soul?

I think the characters, subtleties, and philosophy make it much more than “just a mystery” or “just a novel”, though the mystery is fine for people who only want that, and the characters and their individual voices or patterns of thought are most thoroughly entwined with with the mysteries, necessary to the story.

Heart Attack is a great read!

This couple are a great addition to the mystery genre. Sharp and interesting with a bit of humor and spice.

Snappy dialog. Geoff and Ellen are a great team. He has a definite intuitive method of assessing info and arriving at conclusions that baffle and irk his cohorts. Ellen is more conventional and together are a great team. Unusual mystery not easily solved.

Give either or both of these titles a try; and let me know what you think.
Comment here, or email me at mystery@budcrawford.com.

A few clips from readers,
carefully culled from
favorable reviews on Amazon.

Fit to Curve is a skillfully written mystery with complex characters and such a fascinating plot that I’m way behind on my chores.

This series is a favorite with interesting plots and wonderfully drawn characters. Wish the author would write more of them. The type of book you don’t want to end.

A bed and breakfast mystery. Super characters, well developed. You’re waiting for the other shoe to drop. A mouth-watering, good read. Love the old lady with the sharp wit. I’d like the recipes, too.

The plot builds very slowly. But once I got into it, I was hooked. I liked the characters, and you get a lot of insight into them.

This is too fine a novel to be mired in the mystery/suspense ghetto. It’s a good mystery, with a complex plot, all the mystery trappings, but the characters are rounded and attractive. The theme seems to me to be a consideration of morality – not just sexual morality (or immorality), though there’s some of that too, for those who like to read such descriptions, but all kinds of morality: for how high a price might you sell your soul?

Heart Attack is a great read!

This couple are a great addition to the mystery genre. Sharp and interesting with a bit of humor and spice.

Snappy dialog. Geoff and Ellen are a great team. He has a definite intuitive method of assessing info and arriving at conclusions that baffle and irk his cohorts. Ellen is more conventional and together are a great team. Unusual mystery not easily solved.

Drosselmeyer Chronicles (finished, first draft) and Just Rewards(current work in progress).

Ho. No.

Santa’s folded in half, tucked in a box,
and gets the next eleven months off.

The nonseasonal human staff,
we’ll be working every day,
till he pops out again.

But since it is a new quarter,
the quadannual offer engages
at the start of this fresh year.

¡EBOOKS FREE — RED HOT & READY!

from the Ellen and Geoffrey Fletcher Mystery series

five January days in 2017, the 5th to the 9th, Thursday through Monday

free from Amazon.com (the cover pictures below are direct links)available only in Kindle format

If you haven’t got Kindle capability, you are on the list.
Amazon will drop a drone from their nearest warehouse blimp,
find your home, and upgrade your toaster with a Kindle-reader app;
also your computers, tablets, mobile phones (free of charge).
An actual Kindle device will cost you:
have your credit card ready,
the drones do not make change.
Thenceforward, you shall have access to hundreds of thousands of titles,
classic and modern, as well as to my two. for five days free.

Give either or both of these titles a try; and let me know what you think.
Comment here, or email me at mystery@budcrawford.com.

The Asheville Story

The Williamsburg Story

A few clips from readers,
carefully culled from
favorable reviews on Amazon.
.

Fit to Curve is a skillfully written mystery with complex characters and such a fascinating plot that I’m way behind on my chores.

This series is a favorite with interesting plots and wonderfully drawn characters. Wish the author would write more of them. The type of book you don’t want to end.

A bed and breakfast mystery. Super characters, well developed. You’re waiting for the other shoe to drop. A mouth-watering, good read. Love the old lady with the sharp wit. I’d like the recipes, too.

The plot builds very slowly. But once I got into it, I was hooked. I liked the characters, and you get a lot of insight into them.

This is too fine a novel to be mired in the mystery/suspense ghetto. It’s a good mystery, with a complex plot, all the mystery trappings, but the characters are rounded and attractive. The theme seems to me to be a consideration of morality – not just sexual morality (or immorality), though there’s some of that too, for those who like to read such descriptions, but all kinds of morality: for how high a price might you sell your soul?

Heart Attack is a great read!

This couple are a great addition to the mystery genre. Sharp and interesting with a bit of humor and spice.

Snappy dialog. Geoff and Ellen are a great team. He has a definite intuitive method of assessing info and arriving at conclusions that baffle and irk his cohorts. Ellen is more conventional and together are a great team. Unusual mystery not easily solved.

If you’re curious about life, and death,

don’t let gravity take you down.

¡GET RED HOT EBOOKS FOR FREE!

from the Ellen and Geoffrey Fletcher Mystery series

for five days in July 2016, the 7th to the 11th, Thursday through Monday

free from Amazon.com (the cover pictures below are links), available only in Kindle format

If you haven’t got a Kindle Device, one will be prepared for you.
Amazon will send one of their drones to your home (they know when you are sleeping)
which upgrades your dishwasher and installs Kindle-reader aps on all your computers, tablets,
and mobile phones (totally free of charge).
This modest incursion opens access to hundreds thousands of titles, not just to mine.

Kindle Direct Publishing invites authors on their platform to trade income for exposure and offer their books for free every few months. It’s a simultaneous worldwide deal on all the Amazon stores (US, Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, India, Australia, Japan, Mexico, Brazil). People take a chance on free stuff who wouldn’t pay for a book from an unknown author.

Fit to Curve is a skillfully written mystery with complex characters and such a fascinating plot that I’m way behind on my chores.

This series is a favorite with interesting plots and wonderfully drawn characters. Wish the author would write more of them. The type of book you don’t want to end.

A bed and breakfast mystery. Super characters, well developed. You’re waiting for the other shoe to drop. A mouth-watering, good read. Love the old lady with the sharp wit. I’d like the recipes, too.

The plot builds very slowly. But once I got into it, I was hooked. I liked the characters, and you get a lot of insight into them.

This is too fine a novel to be mired in the mystery/suspense ghetto. It’s a good mystery, with a complex plot, all the mystery trappings, but the characters are rounded and attractive. The theme seems to me to be a consideration of morality – not just sexual morality (or immorality), though there’s some of that too, for those who like to read such descriptions, but all kinds of morality: for how high a price might you sell your soul?

Heart Attack is a great read!

This couple are a great addition to the mystery genre. Sharp and interesting with a bit of humor and spice.

Snappy dialog. Geoff and Ellen are a great team. He has a definite intuitive method of assessing info and arriving at conclusions that baffle and irk his cohorts. Ellen is more conventional and together are a great team. Unusual mystery not easily solved.

Exercise your natural curiosity,
and feed for free.

¡EBOOKS FREE!

from the Ellen and Geoffrey Fletcher Mystery series

For five days in January 2016, the 7th to the 11th, Thursday through Monday

Free from Amazon.com (the cover pictures below are links), available only in Kindle format. If you haven’t got a Kindle Device, Amazon will send a drone to your home (when they know that you are sleeping) and upgrade your microwave, or install a Kindle-reader ap on your computer or your tablet or on any reasonably intelligent mobile telephone (totally free). You will be everafter able to access many hundred thousands of ebooks, not just mine.

Every three months Kindle Direct Publishing invites all authors who sell books on their platform to trade income for exposure and offer their books for free. It’s a worldwide deal on all the Amazon stores (US, Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, India, Australia, Japan, Mexico, Brazil). People who wouldn’t pay for a book from an author they’ve never heard of will take a chance on free stuff. So as the returns roll in, you get to see whether this will be the time there’s finally a bite from the Netherlands or Italy, or whether that firestorm in Japan (well, four books) will reignite. You take what fun you can find in the marketing process, and hope you pick up some new readers.

Fit to Curve is a skillfully written mystery with complex characters and such a fascinating plot that I’m way behind on my chores.

This series is a favorite with interesting plots and wonderfully drawn characters. Wish the author would write more of them. The type of book you don’t want to end.

A bed and breakfast mystery. Super characters, well developed. You’re waiting for the other shoe to drop. A mouth-watering, good read. Love the old lady with the sharp wit. I’d like the recipes, too.

The plot builds very slowly. But once I got into it, I was hooked. I liked the characters, and you get a lot of insight into them.

This is too fine a novel to be mired in the mystery/suspense ghetto. It’s a good mystery, with a complex plot, all the mystery trappings, but the characters are rounded and attractive. The theme seems to me to be a consideration of morality – not just sexual morality (or immorality), though there’s some of that too, for those who like to read such descriptions, but all kinds of morality: for how high a price might you sell your soul?

Heart Attack is a great read!

This couple are a great addition to the mystery genre. Sharp and interesting with a bit of humor and spice.

Snappy dialog. Geoff and Ellen are a great team. He has a definite intuitive method of assessing info and arriving at conclusions that baffle and irk his cohorts. Ellen is more conventional and together are a great team. Unusual mystery not easily solved.

¡FREE EBOOKS!

from the Ellen and Geoffrey Fletcher Mystery series

For five days in July, 2015, the 2nd to the 6th, Thursday through Monday.

Try one book (or both) for FREE.

Free on Amazon.com (the covers below are links), available only in Kindle format. If you haven’t got a Kindle Device, Amazon will come to your home (they know when you are sleeping) and upgrade your toaster oven (at no charge!), or install a Kindle-reader ap on your computer or tablet or on any reasonably intelligent mobile telephone (also, totally free). And you will be able ever after to access several hundred thousand ebooks, some of which are quite good.

Every three months Kindle Direct Publishing invites all authors who sell books on their platform to trade income for exposure and offer books free, or at a reduced price. It’s a worldwide deal on all the Amazon stores (US, Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, India, Australia, Japan, Mexico, Brazil). People who wouldn’t pay for a book from an author they’d never heard of will go for free stuff. So as the returns roll in, you get to see whether this will be the time there’s finally a bite from the Netherlands or Italy (the only ones I’ve never gotten), or whether that firestorm in Japan (well, four books) will reignite. You take what fun you can find in the marketing process, and hope you pick up some new readers.

The Asheville Story.

The Williamsburg Story.

review snippets (good ones only)

Fit to Curve is a skillfully written mystery with complex characters and such a fascinating plot that I’m way behind on my chores.

This series is a favorite with interesting plots and wonderfully drawn characters. Wish the author would write more of them. The type of book you don’t want to end.

A bed and breakfast mystery. Super characters, well developed. You’re waiting for the other shoe to drop. A mouth-watering, good read. Love the old lady with the sharp wit. I’d like the recipes, too.

The plot builds very slowly. But once I got into it, I was hooked. I liked the characters, and you get a lot of insight into them.

This is too fine a novel to be mired in the mystery/suspense ghetto. It’s a good mystery, with a complex plot, all the mystery trappings, but the characters are rounded and attractive. The theme seems to me to be a consideration of morality – not just sexual morality (or immorality), though there’s some of that too, for those who like to read such descriptions, but all kinds of morality: for how high a price might you sell your soul?

Heart Attack is a great read!

This couple are a great addition to the mystery genre. Sharp and interesting with a bit of humor and spice.

Snappy dialog. Geoff and Ellen are a great team. He has a definite intuitive method of assessing info and arriving at conclusions that baffle and irk his cohorts. Ellen is more conventional and together are a great team. Unusual mystery not easily solved.

Every book published, or symphony premiered, every play that opens, lives or dies on its reviews. Sometimes a work survives a spate of initial bad reviews, or the reviews spur revisions that improve it. Sometimes a rerelease catches a better moment in the zeitgeist. And sometimes a piece thrives despite universally bad reviews. More commonly enough good notices bring life, enough bad ones bring death.

Internet reviews are the same. And different. Reviewers aren’t qualified or institutional. Just people who loved the book or hated the salmon-on-a-cedar-plank, who thought the treble was set too high or didn’t like the way the salesperson talked to her toddler. Good or bad, they’re up forever. A ten-year-old comment might still be on top of the list. Sometimes they generate a spiral, usually downwards, of challenges and replies.

People who use reviews learn to assess the credibility of reviewers and pick up on which ones their own tastes align with. And some sites help by letting you access all the reviews somebody has written or by tracking whether other people scored their comments “helpful.” A long string of 5-star reviews may mark an especially good piece of work. But it may also mean the author has lots of relatives trying to help her out. 1-stars may mean something’s lousy, or show enemies or rivals lurking. A 3-star average may indicate mediocrity or an excellence that not everybody gets.

But it’s all you have, if you’re looking for something new to read, or a new restaurant to try. Your time and money are limited, so you’ll probably check out the higher-rated choices first. Reviews are the blood flow of Amazon: either they bring you some oxygen or your work turns blue. The people behind the work take all the comments personally and feel them sharply. Reviews can validate your efforts or knock you flat. If you’ve spent a year of your life making the best story you know how, hearing “well, that sucked” is going to sting. Obviously an idiot with no taste, but …

I was lucky, right off the bat, getting strong reviews that pleased me not just because they were favorable, but because they seemed to understood what I was trying to do and thought I had succeeded. But then came some harsh ones, some mean ones. Some stung because they touched what I thought the weak spots were—ah, got me! Some annoyed because they claimed I had failed at something I hadn’t tired to do, or violated a standard I wasn’t trying to meet. Should you give a bad review to a book because it isn’t the kind of story you like to read? Most people let it go, but others are on a mission to purify the world by marking everything that displeases them.

What’s fascinating is when the same quality gets an opposite response. Fit to Curve, my first book, starts slowly as I introduce my main characters to the world, for the series, not just for this story. Part of the craft of the novelist is learning what you can leave out (and for the most part: if you can, you should). But this was my first venture. It was the most common criticism, except for the reviewers who didn’t notice, didn’t care, or thought it was a good thing. My second title, Heart Attack, moves more briskly; it generated a different set of complaints. Here’s a selection of typical comments (some fragments, some whole, mostly from Amazon, a couple from Goodreads). Question: have they read the same book(s)?

Fit to Curve is a skillfully written mystery with complex characters and such a fascinating plot that I’m way behind on my chores.

This series is a favorite with interesting plots and wonderfully drawn characters. Wish the author would write more of them. The type of book you don’t want to end.

A bed and breakfast mystery. Super characters, well developed. You are waiting for the other shoe to drop. A mouth-watering, good read. I love the old lady with the sharp wit and mind. I’d like the recipes, too

I wasn’t sure I’d like this book at first, because the plot builds very slowly. But once I got into it, I was hooked. I liked the characters, and you get a lot of insight into them.

Good mystery, likeable characters, but overly long-winded. I put it down for days on end because it just seemed to go nowhere at times.

This is too fine a novel, as a novel, to be mired in the mystery/suspense ghetto. It’s a good mystery, with a complex plot, all the mystery trappings, but the characters are rounded and attractive. The theme seems to me to be a consideration of morality – not just sexual morality (or immorality), though there’s some of that too, for those who like to read such descriptions, but all kinds of morality: for how high a price might you sell your soul?

It pains me to say I just couldn’t get into this book. I found the characters were well written, and their personalities drew me in. However, with that being said, the plot just moved too slow for me.

Heart Attack is a great read! Just wish Ellen & Geoffrey weren’t quite so perfect; never do anything wrong, look great all the time, have wonderful jobs, and the only drawback to their marriage … she can’t have kids.

This couple are a great addition to the mystery genre. Sharp and interesting with a bit of humor and spice.

Snappy dialog. Geoff and Ellen are a great team. He has a definite intuitive method of assessing info and arriving at conclusions that baffle and irk his cohorts. Ellen is more conventional and together are a great team. Unusual mystery not easily solved.

I just read the first few pages and then deleted it from my Kindle. I am not a fan of books with nothing but sex and innuendo for a story line. It might have gotten better as it went along, but I couldn’t get far enough to find out.

The last was my favorite 1-star, from Amazon Canada. It’s a little bewildering, I’m really not sure what alarmed her. But it brought a huge brief spike in Canadian sales. Probably also some disappointed readers.

So, hey, if you’ve got something nice to say, say it. If you’re going to be mean, pause a second: do you need to? Have you spotted a rotten thing the world should be warned against, or just something not to your taste?

Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday

No longer free, but worth every penny.

The series — The Ellen and Geoffrey Fletcher Mysteries

Geoffrey and Ellen Fletcher live in Roanoke, Virginia, in the mountains north of town. Geoff is a poet who teaches creative writing at Hollins University and Roanoke College. Ellen is a free-lance travel writer, frequently published in TravelAmerica. Geoff goes with Ellen, when his schedule allows and she can persuade him to come. With an uncanny frequency they find themselves involved in murder investigations, often involving deaths not recognized as crimes.

Ellen’s on assignment to Asheville, North Carolina, to do a follow-up for a story she wrote a year before. Geoff is reluctant to come with her until he learns his college girlfriend and new husband will be staying at the same bed-and-breakfast. Juniper House is packed with interesting characters and Geoff decides to enjoy Asheville and his unintended vacation.

But when two of their fellow guests die, and the police see only accidents, they realize they’re on their own if they want to solve the killings before there are more victims, before they become victims themselves.

Ellen’s trip to Colonial Williamsburg gets complicated. She’s researching an article about the people who work behind the scenes. But somebody is making things difficult for those people, with incidents that are at first just puzzling, then malicious, then seriously nasty. The local police and the administrators of the Historical Area and of William and Mary College can’t even agree on whether the events are connected, let alone what they should do.

Ellen’s daily updates alarm Geoff and he gets a friend to cover final exams so he can ride down to join her. During the two days it takes him to bicycle from Roanoke to Williamsburg, the provocations take on an ever nastier character. He may be too late to turn things around.

But can you lichen it to one,
and picture little volumes, bound in bark, printed with gall ink,
fanned around the oak tree trunk?

Well, if you managed that, we’re past the stressful part.

Every three months Kindle Direct Publishing allows its authors a chance
to promote books by giving them away.

And that time for me has rolled around again.

The next five days: October 3-7, 2014
Friday through Tuesday
the Kindle e-book versions ofFit to Curve and Heart Attack
can be downloaded for free.

If you don’t have a Kindle Device
there is a free Kindle Ap available for your computer, your tablet, your phone
or your microwave oven (all the recent models, anyway, the ones that can charge i-phones).

So, if you’re a mystery reader
you might enjoy meeting Geoffrey and Ellen in their first two adventures.

For a limited time only — starting this week,

July 5-9, 2014 — Thursday through Monday.

Kindle e-book format only.
If you do not have a Kindle, one will be appointed for you,
and installed on your computer or cell phone or toaster oven.

Buy one book at no charge and get the second book free!

Or pick just one — still free!

Book 1 Cover

Book 2 Cover

Of course, this is not the first time this offer has been tendered, nor the last time. But it is this time, and that won’t come again.

The idea is to open a wider readership by pandering to the universal delight in getting something for free.

You find new readers for your work, who tell their friends, who put up five-star reviews, which reviews entice a fresh cohort of readers, who tell their friends, until the virus takes hold, fame fights fortune for the upper hand, and you come to rule the internets.

It’s fool-proof and fun.

As Amazon has opened in ever more markets, an author gets to watch the results come in from around the planet. I’ve never yet sold a book in Italy or Mexico (mx is a brand new site, it is just refractory, probably a side-effect of the Mediterranean diet). Britain and France and Germany always come through. Japan and India inevitably bring several (probably utterly bewildered) new readers. Brazil and Australia will put toes in the water, two or three or four. Canada, after the United States, is the most solid. During some months of regular sales, Canada beats the US.

You can get my books anytime, of course, but you’ll have to pay when there’s not a free promotion going on.

There really is a whole suite of Kindle Aps you can download for free for PC, Mac, iphone, Android, tablets and pads,
if you haven’t got one of the ever-growing family of dedicated Kindle Readers.

Try ordering from the Italian or Mexican site (I’m easy to entertain). But you can’t do China, I’m not there yet.

And as always, tell me what you think. Comments & reviews are not just welcome but eagerly sought.